Sentimental Reverie
by Asa Turney
Summary: If the string theory is true, each particle reaches out to its superpartner. How do you know if you're connected?
1. 01: Voile, the Magic Library

**#01: Voile, the Magic Library**

* * *

– "All right, quiz me on something else."

– "You already know this stuff so well, Renko. Did you really need to study at all?"

– "Ah… you caught me. I just wanted your company, Merry. Looks like it's gotten a little late, though."

Outside the window of Renko's third-floor dormitory, the sun had set and the stars were visible. The aimless study session of the two members of the Sealing Club had been going on for a few hours now.

– "That's right, it's already 9:57. You probably need to go back to your own room soon."

– "Maybe I'll just stay the night. I like sleeping over at your place."

– "Yeah? Do you have good dreams here?"

– "Actually, I do!"

A person's sleeping environment has a distinct effect on dreams. Of course, a stable and comfortable environment allows one to reach the deeper stage of REM sleep where dreaming is more likely. Also, various stimuli from the surroundings can manifest themselves into dreams. Renko's room was a warm, familiar place where Merry's dreams were always pleasant.

– "Say, don't you have an exam tomorrow too?"

– "I already studied, so it's fine. It's sort of interesting to see the things that you study."

The psychology major sat on the floor in a relaxed _seiza_ position, surrounded by piles of thick books, and flipped through the pages of one physics text on her lap.

– "The subjects are pretty different, though. I doubt we could pass each other's tests."

Suddenly, Merry worked up a serious expression and thrust her finger at a page.

– "No, I could do this. String theory."

– "What?"

– "I know all about the string theory."

Whenever Renko started a discussion about string theory, Merry complained that she couldn't follow. But at the moment, her wide eyes were locked on the words with trancelike intensity.

– "The way it goes is, when two people in the world are fated to be lovers, there's a red string…"

Impulsively, Renko was forced to interrupt with a hearty laugh.

– "Well, that's definitely a theory about strings, but…"

Merry's glazed look melted into a smile, pleased with her small joke. If only it were so easy to reconcile magic with science… This was a significant objective of their club, after all.

Just as people find themselves together for strange reasons, threads of otherwise unrelated ideas tend to connect themselves naturally. A few vague words on a page stir up old memories or new discoveries. Still, Merry found it hard to explain why she would be reminded of that particular legend.

Her friend leaned forward to retrieve the book, letting a long lock of dark hair fall in front of her shoulder. Merry's eye fell briefly upon the red ribbon wrapped around the end of the tress.


	2. 02: UFO Romance in the Night Sky

**#02: UFO Romance in the Night Sky**

* * *

After she finished stowing her textbooks, the dark-haired girl glanced out the window again.

– "If you weren't here, Merry, it sure would feel like a waste to be inside."

On a cool, dusky night like this, it was easy to imagine that many interesting youkai and ghosts might be roaming. However, even for the eccentric team of Renko Usami and Maribel Hearn (Merry), who usually acted as paranormal investigators, a bit of time must be set aside to act like normal college students.

Although outdoor adventures sound exciting and romantic to most people, from a certain perspective, maybe there was something romantic about the normalcy of a night in.

– "Oh! Was that a shooting star?"

Merry had risen to join Renko by the window.

– "Huh? I didn't see one."

The eyes of the extraordinarily perceptive astronomer should never have missed it. She may have blinked at a key moment, or else been preoccupied with other thoughts.

– "I saw something. Maybe it was a UFO."

– "Sure. _UFO_ means _unidentified flying object._ So if there was something flying that wasn't a star, and we don't know what it was, then it was a UFO. Now, whether it was an alien spacecraft is another story, but that could be worth following up on."

– "Was it _unidentified_? I thought it was _undefined_."

– "Was it?"

Renko was rather certain it wasn't but, after hours of listening to physics, her study companion deserved the turn to indulge in her own relativistic specialty. Besides, Renko enjoyed listening to Merry's ideas. However out-there, she could always sense some truth behind them.

– "If it's _undefined_ , that's even better. You see, an object with no identity of its own can be whatever we want it to be…"

Both girls gazed intently at the spot in the sky where the UFO had either passed or not passed.

– "Hm. If I were to wish it was a star, so as to make it a star, would that be a waste of the wish I could've made on it?"

– "…Is this the kind of thing you worry about often, Merry?"

– "Mm… But seriously, there was a wish I wanted to make…"

The image of the night sky was slowly sinking itself into her consciousness, making her feel as if she should be sleepy. She gave a quiet yawn, and let her arm slide across the window's ledge so that it rested on Renko's own.


	3. 03: Last Remote

**#03: Last Remote**

* * *

A recent memory:

– "Before studying, I need to do something that gets my brain in focus."

– "Something like a game?"

– "My thoughts exactly! Can you read my mind, Merry?"

It was in this manner, in a limbo of procrastination before their studies, that Merry had become spectator to a great galactic battle inside Renko's laptop computer.

– "So, a game like this is the secret behind the genius Renko's success."

– "No secret, but a proven way to hone concentration. Watch."

Against a dark backdrop, one tiny protagonist was being assailed by countless bullets of light. Renko, however, may have been able to count them. While Renko's nimble fingers danced over keys, Merry gazed with admiration over the player's shoulder, her cheek grazing a red-tied tassel of hair.

Though it was a one-player game, the second player felt somehow drawn into the brilliant scene of flashing projectiles. Even more mesmerizing than watching the action on the screen was watching it reflected in the other girl's eyes, flitting minutely left and right with keen precision…

– "Whoa!"

Merry's focus snapped back to the screen as Renko's virtual avatar narrowly missed a bullet.

– "These shooting games seem incredibly hard. I don't know how you do it, Renko."

– "The shooting part isn't hard at all. All you've got to do is be good at dodging."

Glowing and starlike, the bullets grew denser in volume and varied in shape, yet the scene remained obscure. The minimal graphics evoked an arcade game from some remote era.

– "By the way, this style is a bit unusual…"

The comment was delivered as neither praise nor critique, but the lack of definition appealed to her. Like a UFO, the less detail was presented, the more was left to the imagination. Unlike the hyperrealistic projections on the _Hiroshige_ 's Kaleido-screen, this was much more stimulating.

– "Yeah, it's nice. It's not what you get in modern games, or those pictures on the train."

– "My thoughts exactly! Can you read my mind, Renko?"

A sharp noise like _pichu-n_ rang out from the laptop speakers, and Renko shut the screen with a sigh.

– "Unfortunately, I can't. It's something I would like to do. Read your mind, I mean."

Here, Merry had an instinctive reaction.

– "Oh… Oh no, I'd hate that."

– "Hm? If I could read your mind, you'd hate me?"

– "Not at all. It would just be a bit embarrassing, I think."

– "I don't think so. I don't have a lot to hide. It's not like you're hiding secrets from me either, right?"

Renko's tone was carefree, so Merry also felt at ease, despite the uneasiness. Human psychology is strange, allowing such contradictory emotions to coexist.

– "Secrets? Don't be silly. Anyway, Renko, we should hit the books before your focus wears off."

– "Ah, right. By the way, Merry, you should try that game sometime. That was pretty good dodging."

* * *

Excepting the long nights of their club investigations, Merry was normally in bed by this time, whereas Renko more often stayed up late. They were together now, so Merry didn't want to sleep, despite the sleepiness. Still propped against her partner's arm at the window, eyes half closed, she wondered which feeling would win out.


	4. 04: Maiden's Capriccio

**#04: Maiden's Capriccio**

* * *

– "Hey, you shouldn't fall asleep standing up."

But Merry was too content with the contact to move. In fact, she only leaned more against Renko's side.

– "You're too heavy! You're gonna fall."

– "What a rude thing to say."

– "I didn't say I wouldn't catch you."

To test the theory, Merry willfully stretched out her arms and gave herself to gravity. Renko kept her word and broke the fall– though, as could easily be calculated, they both ended up flat on the ground, giggling freely. Soon they had settled into adjacent reclining positions, hands folded across their chests, staring up at the empty ceiling as if it were another starry sky.

– "Renko, I'm not looking forward to the exam tomorrow."

– "Why not? It's obvious you'll pass with flying colors. Me too, of course."

– "I wish it was on some other day, so we could have an excuse to get together and study again."

– "Was that really your wish? Talk about a waste of a wish!"

– "Wait, that wasn't it! Oh my, I have to be more careful with those words."

– "You know you can come over whenever. And we see each other almost every day. What more could you want?"

– "…"

The atmosphere of the room radiated a pure, natural warmth. The maiden named Merry was almost floating. In this place, she could hardly discern any gravity that would have made her fall. Maybe it had nothing to do with the room itself. Intuition told her that she had felt this way before– but was it in real life, or in a dream?

With a glance at her companion, she decided that the most dreamlike ideal was not necessarily the lack of gravity, but the guarantee that someone would catch her regardless.

Merry rolled over ninety degrees, closing the gap between them, and smiled as she abruptly clung to Renko's forearm. The latter looked surprised at the touch, noting the strangeness of the girl's behavior, but laughed it off with an ironic reproach.

– "Gee, I guess some people have no sense of boundaries."

– "Oh, that's not true. I can still see them."

The capricious maiden's heart beat more strongly, light feelings swirling with heavier ones. Finding momentum, Merry slowly raised herself upright, dragging Renko by the arm with her.

– "I just want to be on the same side as you, Renko. I think that's how it's supposed to be…"

They sat on their heels, in perfect _seiza_ form, aligned with each other against the frame of the window.

The constellations of the zodiac, arising from imaginary connections, were lucky enough to have famously documented lines drawn between their parts, but Merry thought there were probably many minor stars who saw pictures in themselves and were never recognized. Relativism tended to be a freeing philosophy, except when it came to certain self-contained fantasies. What Merry felt was real to her, but she knew it would be fleeting unless someone else believed the same thing.

Directly, the mysterious eyes that saw dreams met the shining eyes that saw stars. Posing a silent question, Merry reached her right hand toward the other's face, and her fingers gently caught onto the red string in Renko's hair.

The physicist's mind worked instantly to deduce the meaning, but for a more favorable sense of timing she waited three seconds to react. Then she grinned widely and joined her own fingers into the tangle of ribbon, letting her locks fall loose behind it.

– "…Sure. I'll subscribe to that theory."


	5. 05: Returning Home from the Sky

**#05: Returning Home from the Sky ~ Sky Dream**

* * *

– "Morning, dream girl."

Merry's eyes fluttered open to her partner's face hovering inches from her own.

– "Morning…"

What was that nickname just now…? A faint blush spread over Merry's cheeks.

– "Ha ha. You were smiling so much, you must have been having a good one."

Pacing as she spoke, Renko went on to mention how she would gladly let her sleep in if not for the exam later, rattling off the exact amount of time left until the beginning of their classes, but Merry could focus only on thoughts of the previous evening.

– "I want to say…"

– "Hm?"

Renko turned her full body and attention to the other girl, just in time to watch her bow her head deeply in her direction.

– "Thank you."

– "For studying with you? You were the one helping me out there."

– "No, no. For more than that."

She reached eagerly for Renko's hand, clasping it tightly between both her own.

– "Because I'm sure you completely understand my feelings."

– "Um. What exactly are you talking about, Merry?"

– "Come on, don't kid around…"

– "…?"

Belying her usual confident manner even in the presence of the most difficult riddles, Renko's puzzled expression was genuine. Merry knew she wouldn't be teasing at a time like this.

– "Last night…"

– "Last night? You fell asleep at the window, and…"

With a sudden realization, the color of Merry's skin deepened to a shade more scarlet than red. The girl who often confused dreams and reality could have never predicted such embarrassing side effects… Her eyes darted to Renko's loose ponytail, still bound in its ribbon with no evidence of being touched. She quickly released her friend's hand and hopped a single step back.

– "It was a dream after all… Never mind, then! It wasn't very important!"

The physicist's mind worked instantly to deduce the connection between Merry's behavior and a strange dream which Renko herself had experienced that night… It was a dream she might have otherwise discarded from her memory, if not for some force of the universe apparently holding it in place.

The return of the memory brought color to her face as well, though by her own effort any nervousness in her voice was imperceptibly faint.

– "That isn't like you… If you dreamed it, Merry, then it must be important. I hate to think you've already forgotten what I said before…"

Nimbly she moved to unfasten the scarlet string from her hair, then grasped back Merry's hand, and tied a neat bow around each of their smallest digits.

– "Renko…"

– "See how easy that was? This proves it. Dreams are things that we should be making into reality."

There are youkai who make magic out of words, and youkai who control the course of fate. There are youkai who read hearts, and youkai who take the form of something that doesn't exist, so as to make it exist. A youkai of some sort is said to be responsible for every small occurrence in human life. Even without going to look for them, it seemed as if the girls had been visited by plenty.

– "M– Merry, are you crying…?"

– "Oh. It's just, you read my mind. That's exactly what I wished for!"


End file.
